The Christian Century is a Christianmagazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of U.S. mainline Protestantism,[1] the biweekly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews books, movies, and music. The Century hosts four blogs, written and edited by Drew Hart, Edward J. Blum, Kate Bowler, Carol Howard Merritt, and Steve Thorngate, as well as hosting a network of more than 100 outside bloggers, CCblogs.

The Century's current editor and publisher is John M. Buchanan, while David Heim is its executive editor. Rodney Clapp, Philip Jenkins, and Carol Howard Merritt are columnists; other regular contributors include Carol Zaleski, Walter Brueggemann, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Will Willimon. The magazine takes a "liberal" editorial stance.[2]

The magazine describes its mission as follows:

For decades, the Christian Century has informed and shaped progressive, mainline Christianity. Committed to "thinking critically and living faithfully," the magazine explores through argument and reflection what it means to believe and live out the Christian faith in our time. As a voice of "generous orthodoxy," the Century is both loyal to the church and open to the world.

In 1900, its editor proposed to rename it Christian Century in response to the great optimism of many Christians at the turn of the 20th century that "genuine Christian faith could live in mutual harmony with the modern developments in science, technology, immigration, communication and culture that were already under way." Around this same time, the Century's offices moved to Chicago.

During the Second World War, the magazine helped provide a venue for promotion of ideas by Christian activists who opposed the Japanese-American internment. Critiques of the internment policy, by writers such as Galen Fisher appeared, regularly in the Century, and helped bring awareness to the situation.

In 1956 the magazine was challenged by the establishment of the evangelicalChristianity Today by Carl F. H. Henry, which sought to present a theologically conservativeChristian viewpoint, while restoring many social concerns abandoned by fundamentalists. Both magazines continue to flourish, with the Christian Century remaining the major independent publication within ecumenical, mainline Protestantism.

In 2008 both Martin E. Marty and former editor James M. Wall concluded long runs as Century columnists. Other notable writers published by the Century over its long history include Jane Addams, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard John Neuhaus, and Albert Schweitzer. Marty has described the Christian Century as an "anti-Zionist" publication.[3]